Three of a Kind, Part 31 Trivia Quiz

Answer: sage

The Seven Sages of Greece (hoi hepta sophoi) were Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Bias, and Pittacus, wise men of the era 620-550 BC who were renowned for their insight and deep thought. The aim of academic study was to become like them.

Common sage (salvia officinalis) is an evergreen herb used in cooking. In the Middle Ages, it was thought to confer health on those who consumed it. Middle English folk wisdom held that sage grows best in a home where the wife is dominant.

Peter Andrews and Erik Arvidsson won an award for innovation in 2006's "Extend Firefox" contest for their news aggregator "Sage." Their catchy tagline is "It's got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don't."

Answer: box

Unlike kites shaped like a four-sized diamond or a shield, a box kite is a linking of cells in a cubic pattern. Box kites generate more lift than do the other kind. An Englishman, Lawrence Hargrave, invented a box kite in Australia in 1893 which could lift a man off the ground.

Beginning in the 1970s, small, portable music boxes were sold: at least two speakers, an amplifier, an AM/FM radio tuner, and a cassette or CD player. These were sometimes called boom boxes and sometimes ghetto blasters. These devices were used extensively in the Black and Hispanic communities to accompany hip-hop dancing in the public street.

A ballot box is a container into which marked ballots are placed until time for counting. Wood is a traditional material although a clear plastic ballot box allows voters to be confident that no ballots were placed in the box before voting began. The existence of ballot boxes is threatened by electronic voting and voting by mail.

Answer: Saturday

Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday. Sábado is Portuguese, Subota is Serbian and Sambata is Romanian for Saturday. The English word for Saturday derives from the worship of the planet Saturn.

On their 1971 album "Carpenters," the duo sang a short positive song about getting to the weekend: "The sadness of Friday had somehow changed to the happy sounds of Saturday."

In the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lazarus Saturday (on which Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead is observed) precedes Palm Sunday and is part of the beginning of Holy Week. The tradition in the Greek Orthodox Church is to eat spiced bread called Lararakia on Lazarus Saturday.

Answer: bolt

A dead-bolt lock, as compared to a spring-bolt lock, is more secure because the bolt will not move without the use of a key. Less-expensive spring locks hold their bolts in place with a spring. It is common to see a door equipped with both.

Usain Bolt (b. 1986) is sometimes called "Lightning." He is considered by some to be the greatest sprinter in the history of track. He won eight gold medals over the course of three Olympic Games; he has won in 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4 x 100 meter relay.

Some plants (especially lettuce, spinach, celery and onions) may suddenly produce a flowering stalk, diverting energy from the production of the agriculturally-valuable crop. This is called "bolting" and the plant is said to have "bolted." When chives bolt, the clever gardener can still win by eating the chive flowers as a lovely salad garnish.

Answer: white

Alex Hyde-White is an actor from the United States. He played young Henry Jones, Sr., who grew up to be portrayed by Sean Connery. He has also produced, directed and made audiobooks.

The so-called "White Album" was actually titled "The Beatles." Their name was embossed on an otherwise plain white cover to contrast with the very colourful and busy cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Woody Harrelson plays a street basketball hustler (a former college star) who plays on black streetball players' assumption that he cannot play because he is white. There's a romantic story in "White Man Can't Jump" but the fun parts are all about the basketball.

Answer: page

The English word "page" derives from the Middle French "page" meaning a sheet of paper. This, in turn, descended from the Latin "pagina" meaning a leaf of paper stuck, affixed or fastened to others.

Bettie Page (1923-2008) was enormously popular as a photographer's model in the 1950s (she was Miss January in the 1955 issue of Playboy magazine) but faded from the public eye. Her work was rediscovered in the 1980s and valued as classic.

Larry Page (b. 1973) studied computing at the University of Michigan and in graduate school at Stanford University. He and Sergey Brin created a search engine which became Google. They got very rich as a result.

Answer: boot

Related to horseback riding from the Middle Ages, words like "boot" in Old French, Provençal, Spanish, and Medieval Latin, meant a covering for both the foot and the calf. Later constructions like bootblack, bootjack and Boot Hill all derive from this English word.

In British English, the boot of a car is the compartment in which luggage is transported. This compares to the American English word "trunk." The British usage dates from 1781; the American usage from only 1930.

The verb "boot" in the sense of "kicking" someone out of a place or of an association dates from around 1880. The nexus of meaning is the figure of applying the one's boot to the backside of the person being impelled out the door.

Answer: mink

Mink are related to weasels, otters and ferrets. American mink were, at one time, extensively hunted; today they are almost exclusively ranched. Mink oil has been used for centuries to waterproof leather.

Mink Chocolates is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Using Belgian chocolate, the company produces decadent truffles, chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, and sauces. One exotic bar is their "Taj Masala" flavoured with cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, clove, ginger and turmeric.

Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young and Audrey Meadows team well in 1962's "A Touch of Mink." Grant is looking for an affair; Day is looking for love and marriage. Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra have cameos. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Picture.

Answer: hero

The Phantom, whose newspaper strip has run since 1936, rides a white horse named Hero. The Phantom has an uncanny ability to communicate with animals, so much so that a wolf is his companion. The Phantom is reputedly immortal but, in fact, is the 21st in his family's line of crime fighters, each replacing the prior when necessity arises. He lives in the Skull Cave where all his predecessors are buried.

David Crosby released his song "Hero" as a single in 1993. Phil Collins was credited both as co-writer and as a recording artist (back-up vocals, percussion and keyboards). It appears to be simpler to be the hero: "The reason that she loved him was the reason I loved him, too, and he never wondered what was right or wrong: he just knew."

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) did not complete his little epic poem retelling the myth of "Hero and Leander." It was completed by George Chapman and again by Henry Petowe after Marlowe's death. It is the story of Greek lovers who overcome obstacles to their bliss. This poem is the only contemporary work quoted by Shakespeare, appearing in "As You Like It."

Answer: dozen

Counting by twelves has existed since Ancient Mesopotamia. Numerous other measures are based on the dozen, e.g. a "gross" which is 144 or twelve twelves. The word "dozen" entered English from the French. A baker's dozen is 13.

"Cheaper by the Dozen" was written by two of the twelve children of Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth, who were (in real life) efficiency experts. It details humourously the life of such a large family governed by two such experts who thought that time-and-motion studies ought guide the proper functioning of a household. There have been two movie versions as well as a stage play.

Twenty five strokes across bare back was a common punishment in 18th Century Australia where it was referred to as a "Botany Bay Dozen." The malefactor was tied to a cart wheel while the whipping was applied. Botany Bay refers to the 1770 landing site of James Cook. The site was planned to be a penal colony but this was shortly moved to Sydney Cove. The term "Botany Bay" remained a common reference to all things penal.